So let me catch you up on the month of December so far! Well, I had a week off work at the beginning of the month. I had a to-do list ten miles long to prepare for Christmas and cross some things off the wedding prep list. I'm proud to say that I accomplished most of what I set out to do. Unfortunately, there are still several biggies on the wedding prep list but I'm not stressing about them. I'm trying to keep this wedding planning thing as low-stressed as possible. Many people have told me that planning a wedding will make me want to elope and I just don't want that to be the case!
Anyway, back to the events of recent days.... We put up my Christmas tree before December 1st so it's been great to be in the Christmas spirit all month long! Every year, I really enjoy putting up each ornament and remembering where I got each ornament from. I love reliving each trip and story and remembering dear friends who have contributed to the collection! All of the ornaments from my childhood are on there, as well as the ornaments that my mom has made through the years. Perhaps some of my favorites are ones that my mom gave me from ornaments from her tree when she was a little girl and in particular the little blue glass ball that was on my grandparents' tree when they were first married nearly 75 years ago!
Once again, I played the oboe in my church's Living Christmas Tree. There were several oboe solo lines and I didn't screw up on any of them. In fact, despite of my playing, the music was beautiful, if I do say so myself! Every year, the LCT seems to go by quicker and quicker but this year my lips hurt more than ever too! But it was a lot of fun and gave a really good message about the birth of Christ and his impact on our lives. I encourage anyone in the area to check it out next year!!
Then we drove a little more and went to our final waterfall stop of the trip. I know, you're sad. We were too. :) We saw Opeakaa Falls which were a little far away but beautiful nonetheless.
During the afternoon, we decided to just relax at our hotel. I was beginning to come down with allergies or some sinus-related issue and rest was just what we needed. And we had a beautiful location to do just that. I fell asleep on a huge sofa like thing near the pool deck, right by the ocean. I was totally chilling and it was nice!!
On our way back, we decided to find somewhere to go snorkeling. Brian had been while I was working earlier in the week but I wanted in on that fun too! We drove to several spots where the surf was a bit too rough before finding a place on Anini Beach. It was great! We swam and snorkeled out to see a bunch of fish! Brian said he saw more during his Oahu snorkeling outing but this one we had to work for a little bit more. And the payoff was great! We saw a lot of fish!!
What an awesome way to end our little adventure! We covered a lot in a matter of 4 days! We left the canyon and drove straight to the airport to take the red-eye home. We really had an amazing time exploring the islands! It was a bit rough to return home where it was 43 degrees cooler!! I am so grateful for the opportunity to see as much as we did! Hawaii is definitely a place to enjoy a variety of God's creations!!
We only had one day on the Big Island before our next adventure so we decided to pack as much in one day as possible. We continued our quest to see more waterfalls and succeeded when we saw Rainbow Falls. These were beautiful and exceptionally accessible! No hiking in the dark required! I was a little bummed we didn't see a rainbow because I'm pretty sure every single picture I've seen about Hawaii involves some sort of a rainbow. But alas, maybe it was too early but there were no rainbows. But it was beautiful nonetheless. 
Our next thing on the agenda was to go to Mauna Kea, which is nearly 14,000 feet tall. If you measure it from its base underwater, it's the tallest mountain in the world. We drove up to the visitor's center at about 9000 feet and boy, my ears were popping! We decided to skip driving all the way to the top due to time constraints and my fear of getting altitude sickness and not being able to continue with the rest of our day. We had an awesome view of the island and it was a really cool drive. 
After finding some lunch at a restaurant in downtown Hilo, we headed to see yet some more waterfalls. I apologized to Brian for dominating our overall schedule with waterfalls but they were really cool and he didn't seem to mind at all. This time we went to see Akaka Falls which are 442 feet tall. There was a little 20-minute pathway that took us by some other falls but seeing Akaka Falls was the highlight. Those are some major waterfalls and definitely one of the highlights of God's creation!
Our next stop on our adventure was the main reason we chose to go to the Big Island... Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Brian loves national parks and it's his goal to cross as many off his list as possible. I like that goal and have vowed to help him in that quest. Plus he wanted to see a volcano erupting. Also a good goal but we quickly learned once we got there that in order to see that, we'd have to do a 6+ hour hike and it wasn't accessible by road. So we drove through the park on the Chain of Craters Road and stopped at several overlooks to explore a bit. When we stopped at the first overlook, Brian said, "Wow, that's a really big hole in the ground!" It was where the volcano erupted back in 1954 and Brian was correct. It was a massive hole!
Brian had done his research and knew that we should be able to see the oil still leaking from the vessel below. It was really cool to see that.
I had seen pictures and heard all about it but seeing it with my own eyes was a memorable experience.
After we finished seeing the USS Arizona, we saw a submarine in the harbor. Upon closer investigation, we realized that it was a museum dedicated to submarines in WWII. We realized that Brian's great-uncle, who had died on a submarine in WWII, was listed on one of the memorials. Then we figured out that the submarine in the harbor, the USS Bowfin, was only a couple of numbers off from the submarine that his grandpa's brother had perished on. So we took a tour of the submarine to get an idea of what it was like for his great-uncle. It was such an educational thing and took on even more meaning with that family connection.
I wouldn't consider myself a pure history buff but I do enjoy learning and seeing Pearl Harbor was such a wonderful experience.
It was a beautiful ending to a wonderful day!!
The reason I haven't blogged recently is that I've been out of town for yet another work trip. This time, back to Hawaii!!!! Let's just say that I was pleasantly surprised that I got assigned to this trip since it's really not my turn in the rotation among my fellow producers. But I didn't ask questions- I just complied and went with it!!
We got here on Thursday evening but POTUS didn't get here until Friday night. And since he's been here, I've been working non-stop. On Saturday, I spent all day with FLOTUS at an organic farm run by student interns. As far as organic farms go (which by the way, I know nothing about) it seemed like a great place that was more than just a farm. I really did sense a family atmosphere there.
Today, I'm travel pool all day. Today is a somewhat down day for POTUS. He spoke to a fundraiser earlier today and now he's on the golf course. Currently I'm sitting on a patio of a restaurant on a scenic bay where the water is as pretty as anywhere I've ever seen. Too bad I'm actually working and can't enjoy it!!
Another random moment... in one of our pool holds of the day, look who I met...
I'm actually taking a few days after POTUS leaves and heads to Australia to enjoy Hawaii even more. We're going to the Big Island and Kauai and I'm excited to have the opportunity to take in even more of God's awesomeness!!